Artificial bait



1. FRAME.'

ARTIFICIAL BAIT. APPLICATION man MAR. s, 1921.

Patented 061. 11, 1921.

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To all whom t may concern.'

Be it known. that I, JOHN FRAME, a citizen of the United States, anda resident of Sears ort, in the county of Waldo and State of Mine,` have invented a new and Im' proved Artificial Bait, of which the following is a description.

The invention relates to an artificial fish and the invention has 'forits general object to provide an artificial bait improved in various particulars with respect to means for giving motion to the bait and more or less 1n simulation of the natural motions of a minnow and .with respect to a novel arrangement of hooks and shields therefor to conceal the hooks while permitting of their being readily grasped by a fish and to other- 1wise increase the efficiency of the bait as a ure.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification, it being understood that the drawings are merely illustrative of one example of the invention.

Figure 1 is a horizontal section taken longltudinally through the bait;

Fig.,2 is a longitudinal vertical section;v

Fig. 3 is a transverse vertical section on the line 3-3, Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a diagrammatic side elevation of the bait. a

In carrying out my invention in accordance with the illustrated example the body 10 is given the general shape of a minnow and is made of any suitable material. The rear portion of the bait is made up of vertebrae, there being in the illustrated form an element 11 in the formvof a screw plug at the rear end of the body 10 and vertebrae 11", 11", 11c and 11d in suitable number in succession in the rear of the plug 11, the forward element 11a having a rounded end 12 bearing in a concave socket 13 in Said block 11 and successive vertebrae 11 presenting sockets 13si for the rounded ends 12a of adjacent elements so that the rear portion of the bait may be capable of universal movement. More or less of the body and particularly the rear portion has a flexible 'coverin Wgithin the body 10 is a transversely disposed drum 15, the shaft 15a of which has support in body 10 and extends beyond the same to receive fins 16 hereinafter further referred to. The drum 15 has a'central pe- ISpecification of Letters Patent. Application led March 8, 1921.

,ble covering 14.

Patented oet. 11,` 1921. Serial No. 449,321.

grooves 18 at the sides. The-groove 17 recelves wraps of a length 19 of fish. line or the like whichextends forwardly beyond the mouth of the bait and is formed with an eye 19a or given other suitable form at the f ront end for ready connection with the fish line. The rear end axial bores 22 in the vertebra 11a to 11, rear end of said line 21 being made fast to the bait at the tail, preferably by passing 1t through the screw of the rearmost vertebra 11 andknotting it at the end as at 24 to permit its withdrawal in a forward direction. In the grooves 18 two side cords or lines 25 are secured to the drum 15 to wind in opposite directions on the drum and pass 'rearwardly therefrom through holes 26 and through holes 26l in flanges 27 on the vertebrae 11al 11e,

the rear ends of said lines 25 being secured to the tail in any suitable manner. preferably by terminating them at the lfiange 27 of the rearmost vertebra 11 and forming knots 28 thereon.

I-Iooks'29 are provided at the tail of the balt preferably secured to rearwardly directed-flanges30 on the rearmost vertebra 11e and within the rear end 14a of the flexi- The edges of the portion 14a are provided with light spring wires 31 that normally maintain the covering 14*1 taut at the sides of the hooks 29, said springs being yieldable to an attack by a fish to permit the fish to take the hooks, 29.-

At the mouth of the body 10 the same is provided with guides 32 which may be in the form of rollers between which the line element 19 passes, said element having a stop 33 thereon to bring up against the front of the guides 32 for limiting the rearward movement of the element 19 toward the drum 15.

The fins 16 are tight on the shaft 15a of drum 15 to .turn therewith but are held by friction which may be manually overcome to dispose the respective fins 16 at different an gles, one being directed upwardlly and the other downwardly. To permit the angular adjustment of the ns 16 they are formed with slots 34 into which pins 35 on shaft 15av extend.l

At the t0 p and bottom of the body 10 fins plug 23 in the rear end in the plug 11 Y E y. l 36 of flexible material are provided, disposed at opposite sides of top and b ottom hooks-37 shielded by said fins., and said fins have at'their edges spring wires 38 secured at their front ends as at 38'to the body and tending to normally maintain said f ins screening the hooks 37thespr1ngs being yieldable to an attack of the fish to permit the grasping of a hook 37. l l

The turning of the drum is limited 1n both directions by a bottom of the bait at the interior and projectingbetween spaced stops 40 at an end of the drum 15. K

In order to maintain the bait properly disposed with the back uppermost the .top of the body 10 has anair chamber 41 made .l airtight in any suitable manner by a cover- IVithin the body 10 provision is made for containing cotton or like absorbent material 44, the same beingQ here shown as held between the plugrll and a bracket 43' within the body 10. he absorbent material 44 is soaked with fish oil as a lure. The oil may escape rearwardly through the holes 21, 26, 26au to pass out at the tail of the baitand through oil holes 45 along the sides of the dive causing tail portion.

In use the bait 10 is attached to the fish line by'fgan eye 19a or the like. As the line is tautenedit puts a strain on the line section 19 fand spring 20 and the drum 15 1s at the same time turned. in one direction. as far as its stop 40 will permit. 'The action causes the reversely wound linepsections'25 to cause the tail to iip to one side and with the actionI of the fins 16, the bait is caused to turn toy one side and rise toward the surface. The bait is operated by a series of short jerks successivelytauteningand slackening the line 19. The slackening of the line 19 permits the spring 2O to react and turn the drum in the opposite direction causing bait to turn to the other side and life-like movements of the bait.

, By setting' the fins 16 at different angles to each# other the bait will be caused to {continuously revolve in either direction as desired and also to deviate from a direct forward movement by reason of the shell movements.

I would state in conclusion that while the illustrated example constitutes a practical embodiment of my invention, I do not limit myself strictly to the mechanical details herein illustrated, since manifestly the same can be considerably varied without. departure from the spirit of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention, I

1. An artificial bait having a laterally exible tail portion, a drum in said bait,

elements winding in opposite directions on pia 39 risingfrom the said drum and connected with said tail, and an element winding on said drum and adapted lto connect with a sh line.

2. An artificial baitl having a laterally flexible tail portion, a drum in said bait, elements. winding in opposite directions on said drumand connected with the tail, a flexible element connected lwith said tail near the rear end and extending forwardly,

a spring secured at one end to said element, and a exible element secured to the front endmf said spring and Winding` on said drum, said last-mentioned element extending forwardly through the'mouth of the lbait and adapted to .be secured to a fish line. 'l 3. An artificial bait having a laterally flexible tail, a flexible element connected with said tail near the rear end and extending forwardly, a spring secured at one end to said element, a drum forward of said spring, and a flexible element secured to the front end of said spring and winding on said drum, said last-mentioned element extending tlzhe bait and adapted to be secured to a fish ine.

l4. An artijicial -bait including a body, a flexible tail on said body,aJ drum' mounted in said body, an element winding on said drum and adapted to be connected with aish line, means to cause said element to move'said tail when said element is ldrawn taut, and to cause reverse movement of the tail when said element is slackened.

5. As a new article of manufacture, an artificial bait includingfins adapted to be l disposed at angles to cause turning movement of the bait, a exible tail on said bait, and means adapted for connection with a fish line and adapted to vibrate the tail in response to alternate tautening and slackening ofthe line.

forwardly through the mouth of 6. An artificial bait having a hook therel 7. An artificial bait having a hook at thetail end, fiexible material normally screening said hook, and spring "means normally lmaintaining said material in screening relation to the hook and yieldable to pressure thereon by a shto recede against the tension of the spring means hook for the taking of theysame by the fish. 8. An artificial bait having'fins of flexible material, hooks normally screened by said material, and spring means sustaining the ns in screening relation to the hooks, and

and expose the yieldable to impact of a fish to. permit the Y taking of the hooks. A y 9. An artificial bait having vertebrae in .the tail portion thereof, the respective vertebrae having anges, lines passing through icial bait having a transverse shaft,` and said flanges, a drum on which said lines are fins on said shaft, and frictionally held oppositely Wound, and a flexible element thereon against accidental displacement, passing substantially axially through the transverse pins extending through the shaft 5 vertebraeand secured at its rear end, said and projected therefrom, the klins having 15 y element being Wrapped about said drum and slots into which said pins project to permit extending forwardly through the mouth of the friction between the fins and shaft to `be the bait to permit of its connection with a manually overcomel and the fins optionally iish line. disposedV at different angles.

10 l0. As an article of manufacture, an arti; v JOHN FRAME. 

